Council approves rec center business plan, supporters frustrated

Wednesday

The recreation center project continues to be contentious, but the Town Council has agreed that its business plan looks sound.

Members voted 4-1 Tuesday to support the business plan, which shows the new center would improve the town’s financial situation.

The business plan approved by the council conservatively projects the new center would generate about $612,000 in revenue and cost $958,000 to operate, meaning the town would recover 64 percent of its cost. The current center costs about $671,000 to operate and generates about $332,000 for a 50 percent cost recovery.

Before approving the plan, the council asked staff to remove $20,000 of projected revenue from the original $632,000 estimate. That amount was projected to come from the sale of "corporate passes" to the proposed fitness center, which is supposed to be a major money-generator for the new rec center. Members wanted to keep the plan resident-focused without relying on income from non-residents.

The council discussed the plan and heard arguments for and against the project for two hours. Mayor Gail Coniglio expressed frustration with some comments.

"I begin to be actually appalled that we are not willing to upgrade our own municipal building, our recreation center, which is the heart of this community, to a point that’s state-of-the-art," she said in response to those opposed to the project. "This is not a subsidy; it’s a service, like police or fire or trash. It’s not ever going to make money or get a cost recovery of 100 percent. To me it is our obligation as citizens of this community to move forward with a recreation center that we can be proud of that’s state-of-the-art."

Councilwoman Julie Araskog voted against the business plan. She said she thinks the center will generate less revenue and cost more to maintain and build than projected.

"We really need to look at these numbers and look at the interest," she said, noting hundreds of residents have told her they don’t need or want a new center. "I do wonder who we’re building it for. We have to look very carefully at what we’re doing, our priorities, and see if this is really what is fiscally responsible and what our residents want."

Some residents agreed.

"My concern is that we’re reaching for something that may not be realistic," Dudley Moore said. "It’s totally under-utilized right now and those who do use it are not residents of Palm Beach. I’m a big believer in charity … but the town does not need to provide a charity for those who don’t reside here."

Resident Steve Hall agreed that the need doesn’t exist, saying a matching grant offer of up to $5 million from the Morton and Barbara Mandel Family Foundation is driving the project.

Losing patience

Resident Jim Zisson does want a new recreation center and agreed with the mayor that it’s a service to the town, even if only a small percentage of residents use it. He told the council not to get "stuck in the weeds" with numbers, assumptions and programming.

"Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good," he said.

Michael Ainslie, vice chairman of Friends of Recreation, a group raising donations for the center, said naysayers are beginning to take a toll on the project.

"I’m angry and losing patience," Ainslie said. "Today we’re facing a very-well organized campaign to defeat this recreation center by either deferring it beyond this summer or by turning local donor prospects against the project."

The group lost a major donor prospect this week, he said.

"This project may well fail because of lack of donor support," he said. "Should this fail, we will all be losers … the residents, the families, the children, the town."

The town, Friends of Recreation, and the Mandel Foundation each agreed to pay a third of the $11 million projected cost to build the new center. The foundation offered a matching grant, meaning the friends group has to raise the money or the project likely fails.

Coniglio and others have said the town won’t begin construction without money in the bank.